Pennsylvania is gearing up to overhaul its education spending under a measure Gov. Tom Corbett signed into law on Tuesday. The Basic Education Funding Commission will study a new way for distributing new state funding to school districts. It is expected to come up with a recommendation next year. Rep. Bernie O'Neill, R-Bucks, pushed for making changes in the way the state allocates money for education, arguing the current formula is obsolete. At present, Pennsylvania divvies up state funding to school districts in proportions that have remained remained fixed in recent years, regardless of demographic changes.

PA Principals Association will be offering a NEW, ACT 45 approved program in the fall titled, “Linking Student Learning to Teacher Supervision and Evaluation.” The program will be held as a pre-conference session on Saturday, October 18, 2014 in conjunction with the 2014 PA Principals Association Conference at the Sheraton Station Square Hotel in Pittsburgh.

Participants will receive 30 Act 45 hours for their participation in the session and the completion of pre-session readings and post session activities. The targeted audience is K-12 school leaders and supervisors. Participants will be engaged in activities, discussions and reflection on the following topics:

If interested in this PIL offering, please visit the PA Principals Association website to register today. You may also want to take advantage of our other PIL session which will be offered during the conference, “Leading the Improvement of School Culture to Maximize Student Learning.” This program also offers 30 Act 45 hours, thus a participant can attain a total of 60 Act 45 hours by taking both programs in October at the state conference.

Register today! Go to www.paprincipals.org – then go to the State Conference tab on the Main Menu, click on the first drop down tab named Register Now, select Full Conference from the options and the PIL programs will be displayed.

The House of Representatives left town for the week Wednesday without a vote on a Republican plan to alter the retirement benefits of future school and state workers.

Republican leadership had indicated the pension proposal, backed by Gov. Tom Corbett, was on the agenda Tuesday, and members discussed the bill in private meetings. But they declined to call a vote that day or the next. “It’s a complex issue, and it just takes a little extra discussion to get people comfortable that it addresses whatever their concerns are,” House Speaker Sam Smith said after the House adjourned. “We’re a little slower this week than I probably would have liked, but we’re still moving forward and hope to get a pension bill passed by the House in the near future.” The Republican-backed proposal is in the form of an amendment to existing legislation, so the House would have to approve the language and then vote again to send the bill to the Senate.

There's no question money is at the heart of the state's pension problem. But the money problem limiting lawmakers' debate on reforming the two state pension systems may not be the one you think. The Public Employee Retirement Commission is out of money. In fact, it has spent $20,000 of its next fiscal year's appropriation. So without money, it can't perform actuarial studies on any more pension reform proposals — including the one crafted by Rep. Glen Grell, R-Hampden Township — until after the July 1 start of the new fiscal year, when lawmakers hope to have put this issue to bed and be heading home for their summer break. Click here for full story.

The Pennsylvania Association of Elementary and Secondary School Principals (PA Principals Association) is pleased to announce the hiring of Joseph H. Clapper, D.Ed., as the assistant executive director. Dr. Clapper brings more than 30 years in public education to the association.

Dr. Clapper will retire this summer from the Quaker Valley School District, Sewickley, Pa., as superintendent of schools. He has held that position since 2007. Prior to this position, he served as superintendent of schools in the North Hills School District in Pittsburgh, and as the assistant superintendent of Quaker Valley School District. He also has experience as a high school and elementary school principal, assistant principal, supervisor of instruction, elementary teacher and secondary English/reading teacher.

In addition, Dr. Clapper was an assistant professor of education at Lebanon Valley College, Annville, Pa., teaching undergraduate coursework in educational psychology, foundations of education, elementary and secondary instructional methods and early childhood education, as well as a field experience coordinator and staff development instructor for The Pennsylvania State University. While in this position, he created a new student teaching center in the South Hills of Pittsburgh.

“I am thrilled about this unique opportunity to advocate for our profession on behalf of the members of PA Principals Association. I am proud to represent PA Principals Association and will do my part to improve educational opportunities for students and educators across the Commonwealth.”

Dr. Clapper has received numerous awards and accolades throughout his highly esteemed career in education, such as the Penn State Leadership and Service Award (which will be awarded in October 2014); the Tri-State Distinguished Educator Award (March 2014); the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrator’s (PASA) Award for Service to the Profession (2013); and the William E. Caldwell Award for Excellence in Administration and Supervision from the Pennsylvania School Study Council (2013). He currently serves on PASA’s Board of Governors; as the chairperson of the Leadership Services Team for the superintendents in the Allegheny Intermediate Unit; and is the Superintendent of Record for the Parkway Career and Technology Center. He is a member of the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s State Assessment Advisory Committee, the American Association of School Administrators, the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development and the Pennsylvania Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, among others.

He received a Bachelor of Science degree in education and a master’s degree in educational administration from Shippensburg University. He earned his doctorate of education in curriculum and instruction from The Pennsylvania State University.

Dr. Clapper is married to Dr. Christy Clapper, who is a retired school counselor. Their daughter, Laura, will be pursuing her doctorate in music in the fall at Florida State University.

Dr. Clapper is scheduled to begin his duties at PA Principals Association in August, which will include advocacy work for the association; providing assistance to members via professional advice and referring legal matters, where appropriate; and assisting with professional development needs for members.

The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE), working in collaboration with First Lady Mrs. Susan Corbett's Opening Doors Initiative, has developed a software tool to help schools identify potential student dropouts based on the research of Dr. Robert Balfanz of Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Balfanz's research noted that attendance, behavior and course grades can be key indicators of students at risk for not graduating. The dashboard provides this information in an easy to read format. In addition, the tool provides a customized catalog of interventions populated by the Local Education Agency (LEA) in partnership with community, regional and state agencies and organizations.

LEAs will benefit from partnering with their local Student Information System (SIS) vendor in adopting this tool. There will be SIS vendor webinars starting the week of June 9, 2014. Vendors can register by emailing RA-EDEWSINFO@pa.gov.

A bill that would eliminate a key component of the state's Common Core curriculum -- passing proficiency tests to graduate from high school -- was introduced Wednesday [May 28] by Sen. Andrew Dinniman (D., Chester), his third attempt to send the tests to the back of the class. Critics have argued that the tests represent an unfunded mandate for school districts and penalize students from underprivileged schools. Dinniman, co-chairman of the Senate Education Committee, has also sought funding for districts to administer the tests, and to limit the test subjects to biology, algebra and language arts. Acting State Education Secretary Carolyn Dumaresq has said she would not increase the number of tests for the time being.

The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) is providing an opportunity for local education agencies (LEA) to attend a question and answer (Q&A) session that will address the data elements required to be uploaded to the Pennsylvania Information Management System (PIMS) for the Accountability Reporting for the Keystone Exams. The presentation related to this data collection can be downloaded and reviewed prior to the session from the PDE website at www.education.state.pa.us/pas, which will be located under the trainings subheading.

PDE will be offering two Q&A webinar sessions via "GoToMeeting" on May 28, 2014. Presenters will be from PDE's Division of Performance Analysis and Reporting.

To register, please select one of the links provided below. Each session has a distinct registration link. Be sure to select the link associated with the session you plan to attend.

Note: Upon registration, you will receive a confirmation email with the specific system requirements and link for joining the webinar you selected:

Register now for the 2014 PA Principals Association Conference, Oct. 19-21, at the Sheraton Station Square Hotel in Pittsburgh, Pa. This year's theme is "Principal Effectiveness: Leading Schools in a New Age of Accountability." National keynote speakers are Dr. Ray Jorgensen, Michael Fullan and Alan November. Click here to register online or watch for registration materials in the mail and in the May issue of the PA Administrator magazine.